Cheryl Cole may be a proud Geordie - but even she ventures into Essex for good food.

The 30-year-old former Girls Aloud star was spotted having lunch at the popular Sheesh restaurant in Chigwell.

The Essex hotspot, owned by Sir Alan Sugar, is popular with reality stars from The Only Way is Essex, JLS, The Saturdays and the Beckhams.

A Turkish theme runs throughout the menu, with some other Mediterranean influences.

Sugar, who is a huge fan of the Fight For this Love hitmaker, shared a snap of the star posing with father of the restaurant's operator, Dylan Hunt, with his Twitter followers. She can be seen wearing a Russian hat, black scarf and leopard print jumper.

He captioned the snap: "Cheryl Cole went into Sheesh at Chigwell. She knows good food."

Meanwhile, it seems that that Cole has finally forgiven Cowell for her public humiliation and is considering a return to the X Factor panel judging panel.

The media mogul is reportedly is keen to reverse the declining ratings by reuniting the 2010 panel, which consisted himself, Louis Walsh, Cole and Dannii Minogue.

"The feeling is that 2010 was the show's peak because it was the best possible judging line-up - and imagine the tension on that panel now," a source told The Sun.

"Simon knows pairing him with Dannii and Cheryl, while keeping his old mate Louis Walsh to spar with, is a blockbuster combination.

"Dannii and Cheryl both have a lot of reasons to be furious with him, for personal and professional reasons, but Simon's a businessman. He knows it will make great viewing," the insider added.